Texas startup sells plastic-eating fungi diapers to tackle landfill waste
Each of Hiro Technologies' MycoDigestible Diapers comes with a packet of fungi to be added to the dirty diaper before it is thrown in the trash. After a week or two, the fungi are activated by moisture from feces, urine and the environment to begin the process of biodegradation.
Disposable diapers contribute significantly to landfill waste. An estimated 4 million tons of diapers were disposed of in the United States in 2018, with no significant recycling or composting, according to the Environmental Protection Agency. Diapers take hundreds of years to naturally break down. That means the very first disposable diaper ever used is still in a landfill somewhere.
To tackle this, Hiro Technologies turned to fungi. These organisms - which include mushrooms, molds, yeasts and mildew - derive nutrients from decomposing organic matter. In 2011, Yale University researchers discovered a type of fungus in Ecuador that can feed on polyurethane, a common polymer in plastic products. They figured the fungus, Pestalotiopsis microspora, would be capable of surviving on plastic in environments lacking oxygen, like landfills.
Hiro Technologies co-founder Tero Isokauppila, a Finnish entrepreneur who also founded medicinal mushroom company Four Sigmatic, said there are more than 100 species of fungi now known to break down plastics.
"Many, many moons ago, fungi evolved to break down trees, especially this hard-to-break-down compound in trees called lignin. ... Its carbon backbone is very similar to the carbon backbone of plastics because essentially they're made out of the same thing," Isokauppila said.
Three sealed jars at Hiro Technologies' lab show the stages of decomposition of a treated diaper over time. By nine months, the product appears as black soil - "just digested plastic and essentially earth," Isokauppila said.
The company says it needs to do more research to find out how the product will decompose in real-world conditions in different climates and hopes to have the data to make a "consumer-facing claim" by next year. It also plans to experiment with plastic-eating fungi on adult diapers, feminine care products and other items.
For now, it is selling "diaper bundles" for $35 a week online. Co-founder Miki Agrawal, who was also behind period underwear company Thinx, said the MycoDigestible Diapers had been generating excitement from consumers and investors since launching about a month ago, declining to give details. Agrawal said the company had chosen to focus on diapers as the top household plastic waste item.
"There is a deleterious lasting effect that we haven't really thought about and considered," Agrawal said. "Because when you throw something away, no one's asking themselves, 'Where's away?'"
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Telegraph
41 minutes ago
- Telegraph
I went on my first diet age 10. Now I'm on Mounjaro and won't look back
I was just 10 years old when I went on my first diet. I remember so vividly being little and first becoming aware of my body, that it was different from everyone else's, or that I was built differently to my friends. My mum and I would even have contests to see who could lose the most weight. Ever since then I struggled endlessly with my weight – until I came to the decision stay on the weight-loss drug Mounjaro for the rest of my life. The truth is, I've tried everything – Weight Watchers, SlimFast, the Atkins Diet. I even tried cutting out refined foods and dairy, and drinking solely shakes. I hired a personal chef, and a personal trainer too. Nothing stuck. Then I went on Mounjaro and lost 2st in three months, and 6st within a year. Now that I've reached 10st, my focus is on maintaining it. That is why I am still on the medication and will probably be on it forever. I have to keep the obesity at bay, and Mounjaro treats my disease and keeps me healthy. I know a lot of people will have their opinions of me and my choices – I've heard it all. I'm ok with what they say because amongst all the hate, maybe I've reached someone who might be afraid of trying it, and this story changes their life. How it started My husband Erik and I live with our three children, two daughters aged eight and five, and one son aged 11, in New Jersey. I was a teacher for 10 years but after I had my first child in 2014, I switched jobs to be able to work from home because it was difficult to pay for daycare. After my second child, my husband became a full-time doctor and made enough money so that I was able to become a stay-at-home mum. For the next eight years, I continued as normal while eating huge food portions. Eventually, it got out of control. I couldn't breathe doing cardio, I couldn't even play with my children. I'm an avid equestrian and I wasn't able to ride or do my lessons any more. We'd just trot around – I felt so bad that I was letting my horse down. I can't even tell you how many weddings I turned down because I wasn't happy with my weight, or how many social events I missed because I didn't feel pretty enough. I felt I was the only person in the world struggling. My mum and my grandmother both suffer from obesity as well. Growing up, my mum would say, 'Oh, we don't eat that food', or 'That's bad food, we need to eat good food.' Her words contributed to an unhealthy narrative around food. I always felt bad about eating a cookie or a slice of cake. It wasn't healthy to be having these conversations about my body at such a young age. The moment I knew I needed to change During my 20s and 30s, I thought that my health was infallible and that nothing could happen to me. Then in 2022, when I was 16st and just about to turn 40, I got my blood tests back and I discovered I was pre-diabetic and obese. It was such a shock to me: I'd always know I was a bit bigger, but I didn't realise my health was reflecting that. I was at the end of my tether – something had to change. I read an article in The New York Post about someone else's experience on this medication first came out it was still new in treating weight loss. Before Mounjaro, weight-loss drugs had a very bad reputation – they had terrible side effects so you couldn't be on them for too long. I sat my husband down and told him I'd looked into this new drug and I wanted to explore it. He said he wanted me to do some research into it to make sure it wasn't just a fad, but after a few days he came back to me and said that it was a legitimate medication. We then went about finding a doctor. At the time, only endocrinologists were prescribing the medication because of their work with diabetic patients, and because I was pre-diabetic, I was able to qualify, so we travelled to New York City. My endocrinologist prescribed me the starting dose, 2.5mg. She prepared me well for the side effects. She said I'd feel nauseous for the first couple of months, I might feel tired, and I wouldn't feel hungry. I'd describe the side effects to be similar to the first trimester of pregnancy. I know a lot of women on the medication suffer from constipation or diarrhoea but fortunately, I didn't have that. The doctor recommended I work with a nutritionist during the first months. I realised that although I was not hungry, I still had to fuel my body with good food. The nutritionist told me that not eating balanced meals while on the medication could lead to hair loss, skin issues and a vitamin D deficiency. She told me to take a fibre supplement, drink plenty of water and drink protein shakes or smoothies daily. Three years later, a protein shake is still my go-to life hack – it's like a cheat sheet to ensure you are getting the nutrients in. The results When I first started using Mounjaro, I was very quiet about it. My husband was the only person that knew about it for three months. I was nervous about the judgement – what if people told me that I took the easy way out? I lost 30lb (2st) in three months, and slowly friends would start to tell me that I looked good, and I decided to be honest about how I'd done it. My relationship with food also changed: I had so much emotional baggage and lifelong disappointment that I had to learn to erase. I had to learn that there was no such thing as 'bad food', it was just food. If I wanted to have some chocolate cake, I could have a few bites and have the strength to walk away. On previous diets, if I ate a slice of chocolate cake, I'd spiral and binge-eat the entire cake. After a few months on 2.5mg, I went up to 5mg for three months. After that I stopped losing weight, so I increased it to 7.5mg. Every time I plateaued and went longer than three weeks without weight loss, I would increase the dose. Once I went up to 12.5mg I reached my target of losing 95lb, which is just over 6st. The medication has offered me so many other health benefits – the inflammation in my knees and ankles has gone down. Before I lost weight, I was having a lot of trouble on my horse and I went to physical therapy to try and address it, but nothing worked. Once I lost the weight, I suddenly didn't have any pain at all. My anxiety and depression have also drastically improved. When I weighed 16st, I was unable to leave my house and when I did, it was only to go into town to run errands. If anyone asked me to go for lunch or dinner, the answer was no. If I was invited to a party for the evening, I wouldn't go. After losing 6st, the travel fear went away – me and my husband went on a flight to Paris, and took weekend trips to New York City. My newfound confidence When I started noticing results, I decided to make a TikTok account because at the time, none of my friends were on there, so I could post without them seeing. Eleven months into using Mounjaro, I'd slimmed down to a US size 6 (roughly a UK size 10). I fit into clothes that I couldn't fit into before; going in and being able to fit into medium and small-sized clothes was so exciting. I was able to go out to parties and I became very social. I gained a newfound confidence which many people start to lose in their 40s but for me, it continues to grow. I've started dabbling in interior design and am even considering opening up my own business. I just know I wouldn't have had the confidence to do that three years ago. Ironically, I feel like my mum was a bit jealous of my successful weight loss. She realised how hard she had to work and how much she had to restrict herself to stay in shape, whereas I was able to be healthier and thinner without all that hard work. At dinner, I was able to order pasta and a glass of wine, and she had to sit there with her plain chicken. I had a lot more enjoyment in my life and I think she was envious of how many people said I looked good. After I had lost around 75lb, Erik took me to a shop so I could buy new boots and breeches. It was so exciting to be able to buy equestrian clothes that I wasn't able to fit into before. I love the European equestrian brands like Redpost and Holland Cooper, and now I could shop there – these are the experiences that I hold so dear. Staying on Mounjaro I suffer from chronic depression, and although Mounjaro has helped me manage some of my symptoms, I know I'll be on antidepressants for the rest of my life. I truly believe it's the same with obesity, and so my clinician and I worked to bring me down to a dose that keeps me balanced, so I'm not losing or gaining weight. We initially trialled going from 12.5mg down to 7.5mg, but I started to gain weight again so I went back up to 10mg and have stayed there for almost two years. I've had such a good experience with the medication that my husband started to take it too. He isn't obese, but once he hit 40, he became more conscious of his dad bod and wanted to feel good about himself. He hasn't lost as much as I did, probably around 30 to 40lb, and I think that is down to the fact he's not clinically obese. We are still figuring things out and discovering new science with this medication – we are the first generation. Now I look at my eight-year-old daughter, who is a fuller-sized, beautiful girl, and know that's ok. We have healthy conversations about listening to our bellies and eating when we are hungry. I don't want her on Mounjaro, but if she needed to be on it when she's older, I'd understand. Some parts of maintaining her figure are out of her control, and now there's medication to help with that. That's why I look at Mounjaro as the medication that broke my generational curse. My only issue is with how cost-prohibitive the medication is. In the US, most of the insurance companies don't cover weight-loss drugs, even though obesity is a disease. They believe that everyone can just lose weight with diet and exercise, when that is not the case. I pay $1200 (£880) a month for my medication – that's most people's rent, a lot can't afford it. (In the UK, you can get Mounjaro on an NHS prescription for £9.90, or from a private clinic for around £180 a month.) I'm so happy that there's finally an answer to obesity. At 41, the unhealthy food narratives that have always been a battle, I've finally been able to put to an end. As told to Nicole Collins What I ate before Mounjaro Breakfast: Coffee, three eggs, two pieces of toast Snack: Handfuls of cereal, children's snacks Lunch: A foot-long Subway sandwich with crisps, a cookie and a soda More snacking Dinner: Large portion of chicken and pasta Dessert: Coco puffs Alcohol: Two glasses of wine at night Exercise: Horse riding – even though it was very difficult What I eat after Mounjaro Breakfast: High-fibre cereal like raisin bran Snack: Protein shake Lunch: Soup and Vietnamese spring roll Dinner: Light dinner like a mince salad with taco shells Dessert: No dessert Alcohol: Mounjaro changed my relationship with alcohol, so I don't drink any more unless I'm out in a social setting, and I often feel nauseous when I do Exercise: Horse riding, I'm now able to ride properly every day Mounjaro FAQs By Dr Kaywaan Khan, a GP and weight-loss and wellbeing specialist at Hannah London, and Dr Leah Totton, a medical and cosmetic doctor at Dr Leah Clinics and Skincare Can you stay on Mounjaro forever? Yes, you can use Mounjaro in the long term, says Dr Khan. Some people 'will take the medication forever because they not only have obesity as a chronic disease, but they [have conditions such as] heart disease or diabetes so taking this medication is part of their core health treatment and preventative health care,' Dr Khan adds. Can taking Mounjaro affect your period? 'A woman who is already overweight might already be having irregular periods, so Mounjaro might actually help those women to regulate their periods,' says Dr Khan. 'It can potentially stop periods if you have too little fat. Alternatively you might have enough fat but if you lose weight too quickly, it can put the body into shock because of a very little calorie intake.' How can you prevent skin sagging while on Mounjaro? 'Slow weight loss is advised. I would recommend reducing the speed in which you lose weight and increasing your protein intake during the weight loss process,' says Dr Totton. 'I would also suggest doing resistance training to work on the lean muscle mass. You can also take collagen peptides and vitamin C to support skin health, or consider treatments such as radio frequency or microneedling to stimulate collagen elastin and tighten the skin.'
Reuters
an hour ago
- Reuters
Health Rounds: Widely used pain drug can be made from plastic waste
July 4 (Reuters) - (This is an excerpt of the Health Rounds newsletter, where we present latest medical studies on Tuesdays and Thursdays. To receive the full newsletter in your inbox for free sign up here.) Common bacteria can turn plastic waste into the over-the-counter painkiller acetaminophen, researchers have discovered. Acetaminophen, the main ingredient in Tylenol and also known as paracetamol in some countries, is usually made from fossil fuels. The new method, developed with support from AstraZeneca (AZN.L), opens new tab, transforms a molecule from a widely used plastic known as polyethylene terephthalate (PET) into Tylenol's active ingredient, leaving virtually no carbon emissions, according to a report in Nature Chemistry, opens new tab. The plastic is converted to the drug at room temperature in less than 24 hours, using a fermentation process similar to what is used in brewing beer, the researchers said. PET, a strong, lightweight plastic used for water bottles and food packaging, accounts for more than 350 million tons of waste annually. 'This work demonstrates that PET plastic isn't just waste or a material destined to become more plastic. It can be transformed by microorganisms into valuable new products, including those with potential for treating disease,' study leader Stephen Wallace of the University of Edinburgh said in a statement. More work is needed before PET can be used to produce acetaminophen at commercial levels, the researchers said. The majority of men and women have microplastics in their reproductive fluids, according to the results of a small study, opens new tab reported at the European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology, opens new tab meeting in Paris. The presence of the microplastics raises important questions about their potential risks to fertility and reproductive health, researchers said. The tiny contaminants – plastic particles under 5 millimeters in size – were present in the follicular fluid that encases developing eggs in the ovaries in 20 of 29 women, or 69%. Microplastics were found in seminal fluid in 12 of 22 men, or 55%. Both types of fluid play critical roles in natural conception and assisted reproduction, the researchers said. In both groups, the microplastic polymers included polytetrafluoroethylene (Teflon), polystyrene, polyethylene terephthalate, polyamide, polypropylene and polyurethane. In animals, microplastics can induce inflammation, damage to tissues and to DNA, and hormonal disruptions, study leader Emilio Gomez-Sanchez of Next Fertility Murcia in Spain said in a statement. In a separate presentation, opens new tab at the meeting, Manel Boussabeh of Fattouma Bourguiba Hospital in Monastir, Tunisia, and colleagues reported that sperm exposed to microplastics in test tubes had impaired motility and damage to DNA. Other researchers have previously found, opens new tab significant amounts of microplastics in the testicles of dogs and humans, and the canine data suggested the particles may contribute to impaired fertility. Researchers can turn off chronic inflammation while leaving intact the ability of cells to respond to short-term injuries and illnesses by targeting a newly identified protein, according to a report in Nature, opens new tab. Chronic inflammation occurs when the immune system is stuck in overdrive, as with persistent conditions such as arthritis, inflammatory bowel disease or obesity. Acute inflammation – with pain, fever, swelling, and redness, for example – resolves relatively quickly. Researchers found that a protein responsible for controlling inflammatory genes becomes degraded and is lost from cells during chronic inflammation. In test tube experiments, restoring the protein called WSTF blocked chronic inflammation in human cells without interfering with acute inflammation, allowing appropriate immune responses to short-term threats. The researchers then designed a medicine that protects WSTF from degradation and suppresses chronic inflammation by blocking the WSTF interaction with another protein in the cell nucleus. The researchers have successfully tested the drug to treat mice with fatty liver disease or arthritis and to reduce inflammation in chronically inflamed knee cells obtained from patients undergoing joint replacement surgery. Studying human tissue samples, the researchers found that WSTF is lost in the livers of patients with fatty liver disease but not in the livers of healthy people. 'Chronic inflammatory diseases cause a great deal of suffering and death, but we still have much to learn about what drives chronic inflammation and how to treat it,' study leader Zhixun Dou of Massachusetts General Hospital said in a statement. 'Our findings help us separate chronic and acute inflammation, as well as identify a new target for stopping chronic inflammation that results from aging and disease.' (To receive the full newsletter in your inbox for free sign up here)
Telegraph
an hour ago
- Telegraph
Why Normal Pressure Hydrocephalus (NPH) like Billy Joel's is so hard to diagnose
The gradual onset of impaired mobility and cognitive decline in later life is almost invariably inauspicious – indicative of some progressive neurological disorder for which regrettably there is not much that can be done. There are however a few (very important) exceptions highlighted recently by the news that American singer/songwriter Billy 'Uptown Girl' Joel is currently receiving treatment for the obscurely named condition Normal Pressure Hydrocephalus (NPH). This is a disorder of the Cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) secreted in generous quantities from the two cavernous ventricles within the brain from where it circulates over its surface and down the spinal column before being reabsorbed. Its diverse functions include, variously, nourishing the tissues with which it is in contact, keeping the brain buoyant within the bony skull, and acting as a 'shock absorber' protecting it from traumatic injuries to the head. The precise mechanism of NPH is not known, but it is probably due to partial obstruction of the flow of the fluid around the brain so it accumulates within the ventricles, causing them to enlarge, thus compromising the function of the neuronal circuits in close proximity. Hence the impaired mobility – an abnormal shuffling gait as if the feet are 'glued to the ground' – and the cognitive impairments characteristic of mild dementia: forgetfulness, poor concentration, changes in personality and behaviour and so on. Logically then a surgical procedure that drains the excess fluid from the ventricles should, by allowing those adversely affected neuronal circuits to recover, result in a marked improvement. As indeed it may. But that of course presupposes making the diagnosis in the first place, which is problematic on several counts. NPH is frequently overlooked The gradual insidious onset may too readily be misattributed to the normal process of ageing where some degree of impaired mobility and cognitive decline is unexceptional. Then by the time the symptoms are severe enough to warrant medical attention, there is a high probability they may be due to some progressive neurological disorder (such as Alzheimer's) so other possible explanations are not pursued. And while one might expect an MRI scan would show the ventricles to be enlarged, the findings can be ambiguous, especially in the early stages, and require further confirmatory specialist tests. The upshot being that NPH as a remediable cause of cognitive decline is almost certainly commoner than might be supposed and frequently overlooked. This is well illustrated by the cautionary experience of a reader who was advised his mother's deteriorating mental state was due to a series of 'mini strokes' and it would be best to place her in a nursing home and 'get on with the rest of my life'. This he was most reluctant to do. Soon after she fell and broke her arm, requiring a further stay in hospital 'where the doctors all tried to reconcile me to coming to terms with my mother's worsening dementia'. Instead he sought a second opinion privately from a neurologist who picked up on the two important clues that her mental decline had coincided with her gait becoming unsteady (hence the broken arm) and also urinary incontinence (a further 'late' symptom of NPH) – attributed by her GP to cystitis, but which had not responded to treatment with antibiotics. Further investigations confirmed she did indeed have NPH. Following the procedure to drain the excess fluid from those expanded ventricles she has made 'virtually a complete recovery'.
